Olusola Ebiseni, the Labor candidate for the November 16 Ondo State governorship election, has denied any claims of controversy surrounding his candidacy despite being disqualified by a recent Court of Appeal ruling.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Mr Ebiseni maintained that he remains the party’s legitimate candidate.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja disqualified Ebiseni on Wednesday in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel headed by Justice Adebukola Banjoko.
However, Ebiseni contested the ruling, explaining that the party's former candidate voluntarily resigned citing financial difficulties, paving the way for his candidacy.
He said: “The question of who conducted my primary election is not an issue. It was the National Working Committee of the party at the time. As of the end of April, the Labor Party in Ondo had no candidates. It was resolved. The party later replaced someone.
“Every party has a new culture. The candidates are from the South Senate constituency, which is where I come from. Check all the parties. So Labor is bringing in someone from the North Senate constituency. Dr. Femi was there. After all, the party now wants to field a substantive candidate. Femi has withdrawn his candidacy by filing an affidavit to that effect. .
“He told the vice presidential candidate that after extensive consultation, he had come to the conclusion that for some reason he was no longer a candidate. He took the candidacy form. I paid N20 million. The party gave me the UBA account number and I made the payment.
“According to the electoral law, the by-election had to be held within 14 days. It was held in Akure on July 18. At that time, I became the party’s gubernatorial candidate. The only The matter went to INEC because they refused to upload my name. I named the Labor Party as the first plaintiff, myself as the second plaintiff, and the vice presidential candidate as the third plaintiff.
“During the course of the litigation, the country’s legal advisers came to court with a complaint. They had a problem with INEC, but they were not obliged to sue INEC. They removed our name and We have no intention of confronting INEC. All they asked for was the removal of the Labor Party’s name. But that does not affect my position and the party’s candidates. .”
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